Reading Challenges for the New Year
Or how I'm choosing to NOT challenge myself
Here we are, already the second weekend of 2025!
Last year was a year of MANY reading challenges, all of which I accomplished, and all of which left me feeling rather blasé. I was pleased to achieve them, don't get me wrong, but the thrill of it was lacking.
In 2024, I had three challenges before me: @thewell.read.collective’s Well Read Challenge, @lemonyreads and @bookswithnopictures #backlistbooks24 challenge, and my own annual challenge of 55 books. I read 63 books, 25 of them from my TBR pile, as well as reading from a variety of genres.
In December, I kept seeing more and more intentional readers announcing that they were feeling drawn to reread more in the new year, I among them. Perhaps we're all feeling a bit burned out by the rat race that had become of what should be a somewhat guilty pleasure.
I believe that intentionality about what one is reading is always good, almost necessary. Most of us are not afforded the ability to delve into topics of interest at whim: Reading allows us to do so in a concise format. If we are not pursuing growth and knowledge, we are failing to appreciate and do honor to one of God’s greatest gifts to us: The ability to learn!
For 2025, I decided to continue my annual goal of reading 55 books. It’s a good solid number that I know I can accomplish (maybe that defeats a goal), but one that is a bit challenging to myself. I’ve also decided that I am going to read through several of the books on my shelf that I have collected (there are 25 of them), but as of yet have failed to read. Finally, I plan on several rereads.
In 2010, after the birth of my oldest in November 2009, I decided to challenge myself to read more! It was the first time in my life that I was no longer in school or working outside the home, and while I never stopped reading during those seasons, I knew that it was all too common for new moms to stop reading, and I didn’t want that to be me.
I spent that first year of motherhood revisiting all of my literary friends: From Anne and Laura and Jo, to Claire and Jamie, to Bilbo and Frodo. It was an exquisite year of reading! One that set me up for tracking the books that I read, a love of bookish communities, and creating a home in which words not only mattered but were vital.
What say you? Are you taking part in any organized challenges? Your own challenges? Or simply allowing the year to take you where it will in your reading? Do you keep a record of the books you have read?